


Nicknames

by calumgothoes



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: F/M, M/M, mentioned death, michael is a single parent, so do the point of views, the time periods switch every now and then, there's some cake but not that much
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-06
Updated: 2016-07-06
Packaged: 2018-07-21 20:35:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7402957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/calumgothoes/pseuds/calumgothoes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Why don't you have that many pictures of mom?"</p>
<p>"Because she hated taking pictures...he didn't.." </p>
<p>Or Michael looks through his deceased wifes' things, suddenly finding an old forgotten scrapbook.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. °Chapter one°

**Author's Note:**

> I love Mashton. There my babies close to Cake. And I really wanted to write about sooo, I hope you enjoy :))

Luke wasn't sure he wanted to do this today.

He didn't want to drive all the way there and then back just for his time to be wasted. And he was scared that nothing would get accomplished. If Mike were to break down during this process, he would have to play Dr. Phil and console him. Luke wasn't the best at comforting other people, he thought. But, the least he could say is he tried.

Calum wasn't there to coach Luke either.

_ "He's probably still asleep..." _ He thought. Maybe he could just turn around and reschedule. Do this a different day, Mike would want that. Everything was still so fresh and new and he himself didn’t know if he could cope with it. 

But he was already outside his house with the engine on and the radio turned off. He took the keys out of the ignition then sat back. He sighed to himself.

He didn't know why he just sat there for awhile before getting out. In the back of his mind, he wanted to be there for Michael. He wanted to hold his hand and get him through this.

He just didn't know how..

Luke got out and walked up to the front door, ringing the doorbell enough times to get someone's attention. Even though it maybe two in the afternoon, Michael is notorious for sleeping all day and not getting any physical contact with the outside world. Michael has once slept a full 17 hours before. Luke still doesn't know how the hell that happened but hey, it’s Michael.

The door swung after a minute or so revealing a petite boy, with scruffy looking brown hair. The sleeves on his sweater were a bit too long and his eyes were half lidded. He probably just woke up.

“Good Morning. How ya’ been?" He grinned as he walked in, letting Eddie close the door behind him.

Eddie rubbed his eyes and yawned, "Peachy. And you?"

He shrugged, "Oh I'm alright." Luke noticed the small bags under Eddie's eyes and questioned whether he slept at all.

"My sleeping pattern is really weird now. Sometimes I sleep, sometimes I don't." Eddie yawned again, indicating that last night he didn't.

Luke exhaled, "Well is your dad up? We got a lot of stuff to get through today."

Eddie looked up the staircase and started towards them, "Probably not, cause breakfast would've been made by now. Hold on."

Luke scoffed amusingly while his hands were placed in his back pockets.

Eddie crept toward his father’s door, grabbing the handle and knocking softly. He was surprised when it wasn't locked. "Hey...Dad?"

Michael had been laying on his stomach with his face buried into his pillow when he heard the door open. He slowly rose up, paused, then turned in Eddie's direction. Eddie shifted from one foot to the other under his father's gaze and crossed his arms over his body, “Good Morning…”

Michael huffed and fell back down on his pillow. 

"Uncle Luke is here."

Eddie watched as his father took his time turning in his sheets before sitting all the way up, lifting his pale arms above his head as he stretched out. Once his arms fell back at his sides, he glanced towards Eddie.

"...Is that my sweater?" Michael pulled the covers off his bare legs and slowly stood up, trying to recollect himself.

Eddie nodded, "It gets cold in the basement."

His father tilted his head side to side. Eddie cringed when he could hear the slight popping sounds, "It's a bit big on you, don't you think?"

"I don't care." Eddie's eyes followed Michael as he walked towards his bathroom, "Plus it smells really good so..."

"Yeah it's probably my cologne, I haven't washed it yet.” he flipped on the light, “Go on downstairs. I'll be down in a minute." He said as closed the door.

"Okay."

~¤~

Luke helped Mike carry brown cardboard boxes downstairs into the living room. Eddie just sat on the couch, watching the TV being no help at all. Not like he was going to offer any either.

"Damn, how many boxes did she have?" Luke huffed when putting a much bigger one down.

Mike came in right after, " I think this is the last one, Luke."

Luke mumbled, "Good." He went to opening the one in front of him.

"Ed, you want to look through some boxes? See something you might want?" ‘Cause if not, Michael is just going to throw it away. Or give it away to someone else. He didn't want to keep everything of hers. He would think about it too much. Thinking wasn't his favorite thing to do...at all.

"Ooh yeah! She had this really cool art journal that had all her portraits and poems in it. I wanna keep that."

" You better look for it then. Whatever isn't taken is either getting tossed or sold."

"You're going to sell mom's stuff?" 

There was a sudden beat of silence. Luke noticed it but pretended he didn't.

Michael didn't want to think of it like that.

"If it's junk, it's junk. We can't keep everything, we don't have the space."

Michael didn't feel comfortable going into full depth as to  _ why. _ That was part of his process, he needed to do this. 

"But we can make space. We could store it up in my room or in the basement or maybe your--"

"Eddie. Don't argue with me. I said, we don't have the space."

A silent and reluctant nod came from Eddie after his father made it final. But it still confused him. Why did he want to get rid of her so badly? Why did he want to forget about her?  He muted the tv and began opening a box.

Luke awkwardly cleared his throat as he looked through the box in front of him. The box he had was full of old books and outdated magazines, nothing really special. Michael was just looking through a box full of clothes. Old work clothes and a few band t-shirts that he might wanted to keep or give to Eddie, he wanted to look for that first. Eddie was flipping through old scrapbooks and photo albums. His mother was a very artsy person. It wasn’t exactly her dream to become an Art Teacher but it was something close to what she wanted. Drawing and collecting was her passion, that's why if you would look through her scrapbooks, they'd be filled with colorful leaves or old coins or anything she found on the street. That was one of the things Eddie loved about his mom: she was creative. She always writing or sketching because it “helped with her emotions”. She always said it best to express yourself through colors. Each feeling has a certain color, you just have to figure out which is what. 

There was one photo album in particular that he picked up that made him raise his eyebrow. It was red with velvet covering and on the inside written in cursive, read: 

“ _ These are for you and you only. _

_ Love, Fletcher. _ ”

As he started flipping through it, he realized it was old Polaroid pictures. Some were of trees and the sky, some were of random people Eddie had never met before. He saw picture of a dog. But not one picture was of his mother.

"Hey uh, dad?"

"What?" Michael didn't look at Eddie as he was folding an old Led Zeppelin shirt. Luke didn't bother to look up either.

Eddie was turning the pages towards the end of the book and noticed that the same guy kept showing up in the pictures. A guy with golden brown hair and pretty green eyes. And dimples. Deep dimples. Eddie bit his lip.

_ Is this her ex-boyfriend or something? _ He thought. But that didn't really make sense. Why would she be keeping old pictures of her ex?

Then he saw a picture of his Dad. His younger looking Dad with green colored hair. He furrowed his brow. "Dad, is this you?"

Michael looked over, seeing himself in his teenage years, "Yeah, that's me." Luke leaned over a box to see too, " Oh I remember when you dyed your hair green! Everyone kept calling you the grouch from Sesame Street." He laughed.

"You used to dye your hair?" Eddie sounded astonished as if he couldn't believe his dad of all people would do that.

"Yeah, all the time. I had to stop though. I refused to be bald at fuckin' twenty-five." He scoffed.

Eddie kept staring at the picture of his father as a teenager. He looked so happy and full of life. So unaware of things and carefree, like things back then were filled with purpose. Nothing how he looked now. Eddie wondered if he would be that carefree and content when he got older. 

He had to be at least 17 or 18 in the picture. His eyes began scanning over the photos of his father but stopped at one.

The same guy with the dimples was sitting in his lap as his father had his arms wrapped around his waist and looked as though he was kissing his chin. Eddie’s  face screwed up.

"Uh dad?"

"Yeah?"

"...Who is this?" Eddie handed him the album.

Michael took the velvet book and stared down at the picture Eddie pointed to. A sudden rush of nostalgia hit Michael like a truck. It wasn’t pleasant at all though. It didn’t feel like he wanted to re-live what was in his hands, which began to sweat by the way. Why did she have this? Why did  _ he _ have this? He should’ve thrown it out a long time ago. It’s still as soft as when he received it.

"Ashton..."

 

 


	2. °Chapter two°

_ Michael _

"Ashton?" Luke moved towards me, to get a better look. His eyebrows rose, "Ohh,  _ Ashton _ ..."

"Was he a friend or something? 'Cause there's a lot of pictures of him." Eddie crossed his arms.

I sighed as I flipped through the book, seeing picture after picture of  _ him _ . I came across another one of him and I. I was looking down at my phone while Ashton's arms were around my neck with his chin resting on top of my head.

Another picture was of Ashton and I kissing and I quickly shut the book before Eddie could see it.  _ More for my sake than his to be honest. _

A weird sensation went through me when I saw it. Uncomfortable reminiscence, if you may.

I could feel his lips again. I could feel the heat his body had against mine, and I could smell his breath. I remember that day vividly. It was too hot to be outside for too long but Ashton wanted ice cream. My somewhat sweaty arms were around Ashton's waist and my lips were chapped. But his were soft and full and he tasted like strawberries.

I handed the book back to Eddie and told him to put it away.

"Why? I wanna keep looking through it."

I shook my head, "There's nothing interesting for you to see, put it away."

Eddie, obviously not listening, opened up the book again and gasped at the page he opened up to, "Ew, why are you naked?!"

I snatched the book from Eddie's hands and held it close to my chest, "I told you to put it away!"

Eddie held his stomach while he giggled, making small wrinkles form around his eyes. Luke was giggling to himself as well, "Yeah, you're Dad would get naked all the time. He would sometimes put on tutus and fairy wings."

"Shut up, Luke!"

Eddie snickered, "Oh god, that's so gross!"

" I told you to put it away and you didn't listen so, that's what you get. I hope you're scarred for life." I frowned, while heading to the staircase.

"What, why are you leaving?" Luke asked as he wiped his eyes from laughing to much.

"To get  _ this _ ," I held up the book, " away from you two idiots."

“Wha-I didn’t even do anything!” Luke chuckled.

All I could hear on the way up was more laughter and, "Didn't know dad was into that kinda stuff.."

"Oh yeah, there was even a point where he wanted to get his nipples pierced. Thankfully he changed his mind."

I shouted out loud, "I said shut up, Hemmings!"

~¤~

It's two am and the couch has never felt so damn comfy. Plus the beer I was drinking was giving me a bit of a buzz, regardless of it tasting flat. Half way through the bottle, you don't even notice it. The TV and the lamp on the side table was the only source of light keeping me awake.

Picture after picture, sip after sip; it was a bit hard trying to keep it together. It was hard looking at a picture of  _ her _ . All the smiles and the hugs and laughs were coming back and I honestly didn't know if I liked it or not. I shouldn’t be doing this, I know I shouldn’t, what I need to be doing is taking my drunk ass to bed. Hoping that I would get back to dreaming normally and comfortably.

But the boxes were still opened and the pictures were literally right next to me and what was flashing across my TV screen was not distracting me enough. There was a second where I thought I was going to cry.

I'm a not big crier. At least not in front of other people. Especially in front of Eddie. I can't tell if he's broken down yet. He probably has but only in the comfort of his room. I want to talk about it, so we both have that closure. It may seem awkward but we have to discuss it at some point. I don’t want him to be suffering and hurting like me. I don't want lose another loved one that meant everything to me. I have a bad history of people leaving and not letting me get the chance to say goodbye.

Truthfully, Eddie's the only one keeping me going. If it wasn't for him, I'd probably be hitting rock bottom.

I picked up another picture.

Our wedding day.

I blew raspberry, trying to remember exactly what happened that day. She looked beautiful, I knew that. I think I accidentally got cake frosting on her gown. I don't know, something really stupid along those lines. Either way she was really pissed and I couldn't stop laughing. I chuckled to myself as I put it to the side with the others.

Here's one when we were at the beach. I stayed on land the whole time, watching her swim and splash around in the water. Praying to God that a shark wouldn't come and eat her whenever she swam out too far. I'm not the strongest swimmer in the world so if she would've gotten caught, she'd be shit out of luck. I was such a good husband, wasn't I?

She looked so ethereal with her dark sun kissed skin and there was an effortless sway to her walk whenever she'd make her way over to me. I consider myself a lucky son of a bitch to have won someone like her. Lord knows, she could've done better.

A sudden yawn came upon me as I stretched out my back. I glanced over at the clock on the side table: 2:48 am.

Eh. I got it in me, I could stay up longer. Who needs sleep anyways?

"...Dad?"

"Oh my god," I jumped slightly, not hearing Eddie come in. How long has he been standing there? "You scared me." I breathed.

"Sorry." He looked down at his toes and timidly pulled on the end of his sleeves to cover his hands. He must've picked up that habit from me.

"What're you doin' up, buddy?"

"Couldn't sleep." He mumbled.

"Nightmares?"

He shook his head, "Not tonight."

"You wanna watch TV with me till you get tired?" I don't mind the company.

He quickly nodded, "Can we make cookies too? Warm cookies and milk put me to sleep faster." 

_ A trick my mother used to do on me when I was little. Whenever I couldn't sleep, she would give me cookies and milk. Next thing you know, I was out like a light. _

"Sure mate, c'mon."

Eddie beamed as he skipped into the kitchen, immediately going into the freezer to pull out the frozen pack of sugar cookies, with Halloween ghosts on them. We are in the middle of May but he insisted we buy them and make them just for the hell of it. He definitely got his spontaneity from his mother.

"Turn the oven on for 450° and set the timer for ten minutes." He instructed, reading from the back of the wrapper.

"Yes sir." After I set the timer, I pulled a cookie sheet from the top cabinet. He began placing the cookie dough gently on the pan.

"What's on TV?" He asked.

"Uh," I turned my head and saw that some show called  _ Cupcake Wars _ was on. It seemed pretty competitive and serious. "A show about people way too serious about cupcakes."

Eddie nodded, "Ah. Cupcakes Wars. My maths teacher watches that."

"Does she talk about it a lot?" I half-smiled.

"Nah, there was a problem we were doing that involved cupcakes and she got excited. She went on a rant about how it's the best show in the world for half the period. Needless to say, I didn't have any homework this weekend."

"Oh splendid." I lifted myself up and sat on the counter. He finished placing the cookie dough and slid the pan in the oven.

Lifting my hand up, I stopped him right as he was about to put his fingers in his mouth. "Go wash your hands."

He pouted, resembling a five year old, "But I wanna lick the dough off. It's not like I'm gonna get sick."

"Hands. Wash. Now." I said.

He made a little 'hmph' noise before heading to the sink and turning on the nozzles. He asked me a question over his shoulder, "Did you find anything worth keeping today? From moms stuff?"

I swallowed, "Uh yeah. Just some old CD's and t-shirts. Oh and some more photo albums. If we're getting rid of some things, I, at least, want pictures of her."

Eddie dried off his hands and leaned against the sink, "Yeah. And the book from earlier?"

" Yeah um," I exhaled, "I don't know, I might keep it."

He folded his hands together and looked up at me, "How come you didn't want me to look at it?"

"Because if you remembered from earlier, there's things in the book that children shouldn't see." I narrowed my eyes at him.

"It's not my fault, you didn't know what clothes were back then." He giggled.

_ Trust me, I knew what the hell they were. It was just around a certain someone, I didn't. But you're still too young to know about that. _

It was quiet for a minute. I didn't actually think about keeping the book. I don't know if I want to, to be honest. I haven't spoken or seen  _ him _ in years. He's probably forgotten about the damn thing. Probably regrets giving it to me.

"...You know, you never told me who he was." Eddie stepped forward.

I tried to play dumb, "Who,  _ who _ was?"

"The guy-the guy in the pictures. Uncle Luke said his name was Ashton. Who was he?"

Shrugging my shoulder, I said, "Just a friend."

"But...you kissed him."

I winced, "So? Friends can't kiss?"

"Well I don't kiss my friends, so no."

"Look," I jumped down off the counter, "Hop off it, alright? He was nobody. Nobody important."  _ Damn lie. Damn lie, you know that’s a damn good lie. Denial is not pretty. _

I shook my and headed out the kitchen, back into the living room. I picked up my half empty bottle of beer and took another sip. Why isn't this kid sleepy yet?

He followed me out, "Yeah you say that but, then you make it feel like he was."

"You should probably go check on your cookies..."

He groaned dramatically, "C'mon dad, just tell me. I'll leave you alone, if you do."

The timer went off in the kitchen, meaning the cookies are done. "Why the hell do wanna know so badly?"

"I'm a curious guy, okay? Once I see something and don't know what it is; I have to ask questions. Accept me for who I am, dad."

I groaned at Eddie as I pulled out the fresh Halloween cookies, "You're annoying sometimes, you know that?"

"And I love you too. Now please tell me who he is."

I sighed, knowing that if I don't talk now, Eddie will never go to sleep. He’s right about the curious thing. He never stopped asking questions when he was child and he definitely won’t stop now. And this will probably be an ongoing conversation that will never cease. I turned off the oven and handed him a cookie.

" Alright, alright. He was--sort of more than a friend, I guess. I don't know." I took another sip of my beer. It was tasting a bit more bitter than before. 

"Like...a boyfriend?" His eyes widened when the word boyfriend came out. I nodded, letting out a yawn. "You're gay?"

"Actually bisexual but when I was younger I thought I was." I picked up a cookie.

He raised his eyebrows, "Did mom know?"

I waved my hand, " Of course she did. Fortunately, she wasn't a homophobic asshole, like most people I grew up with."

"Oh..." He looked down at the floor as if he's trying to process all that he's gathering. It wasn’t that big of a deal, at least to me it wasn’t. 

"How come you never told me?"

"You never asked."

Eddie chuckled and went to grab another cookie, "Well uh...when did you meet him?"

"In college. In a very cliche way too." I laughed. Fuck, why does everything feel like it was yesterday? Never again would I ever thought I would think about this. Why did I have to have such a curious son? 

"Ooh tell me!" He bounced on his heels.

“It’s not some cutesy Cinderella story alright?” I shook my head, “It was just like every dumb mistake I made that involves alcohol.” 

Eddie shrugged not caring at all that this could be the most boring story of all stories. Wait...maybe it’ll actually make him fall asleep. 

I clapped my hands together with eagerness, "Okay, well it was at a frat party..."

  
  



	3. °chapter three°

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Flashback. . .

_ When we pulled up, the party was already in full swing. _

_ Luke took the keys out of the ignition and let out a deep breath before looking at me, "You ready?" _

_ Giving him a quick glance, I said, "As ready as I'll ever be." _

_ To be honest, I'm nervous as hell. But I can't tell Luke that. He looks incredibly anxious himself but trying his hardest to seem like he has his shit together. I know he's only doing it out of comfort for me. Everyone and their mom knows Luke Hemmings is a nervous wreck when being social. _

_ Personally, dealing with people just isn't my thing. I feel that being alone in my own space is more comfortable than being surrounded by slurred words and booming music. _

_ But when Luke came knocking on my door, begging me to go, so he doesn't show up alone, I had no choice. I couldn't leave him hanging like that. As long as there's someone he trusts there with him, he'll feel safe. _

_ So here we are, walking up and entering through a stranger's front door, not even thinking about knocking. There's no way anyone would hear it. _

_ The entire house felt like being in black box. Every now and then, there'd be a random flash of light and it made me squint out of habit. People were walking around with glow sticks and wearing them in a way that shaped out their bodies. If I hadn't of glanced down, I wouldn't of noticed there was bucket filled with them right behind the door. _

_ I raised my lips to Luke's ear, "Pick the same color as me, so I'll know it's you if we get separated!" _

_ "Okay!" He shouted, "What color?" _

_ I watched as people walked by and took note of how majority of them had either pink or orange as their color scheme. No one was really going for green. So that's what I chose. _

_ "I'm going green!" I yelled as I picked one up and snapped it. Neon green quickly filling up my hand. I picked up another and wrapped them around my wrist. Luke chose to wrap his around his neck. _

_ "Let's check the place out!" He said in my ear. _

_ I nodded and stood very close to him. I did not want to lose him in the sea of people, I'd be terrified if I got abandoned so quickly. _

_ After leaving the main hallway, we made our way into large open area. I assumed it was the living room before it became the dance floor. Strobe lights were shooting from every corner and I realized that's where the random but sort of blinding, flash of light was coming from. The way these people were dancing and moving as if they had no care in the world made me somewhat calm. I had a strange urge to get out and dance myself. _

_ I pulled on Luke's sleeve, "I'm thirsty!" _

_ He gave me a nod and dragged me through the mansion hallways by hand, causing me to occasionally bump into someone every now and then. Only one person rudely told me to watch where I'm going and the rest acted as if I was invisible. I was very relieved for the latter. I don't wanna start trouble with a drunk. _

_ When we stepped in the kitchen, there weren't many people standing around. A few empty beer bottles laying across the counter top. I expected a bunch of dudes to be playing beer pong, like how you see in the movies. Evidently, I am wrong. _

_ Luke let go of my hand and immediately went over to the fridge, "A'right Mike. Alcohol or juice?" He asked. _

_ "Alcohol will do please. I need some liquid courage." I stepped toward him. He pulled out a Mike's Hard Lemonade bottle and a Capri- Sun. He shrugged at me when I raised my eyebrow. _

_ "What? I'm driving..." _

_ "Since when do you like Capri-Sun's though? It's all about the Kool-Aid jammers, bro." I twisted the bottle cap off and took a sip. Mm, it's sweeter than expected. _

_ He laughed, "Since it's the only thing they have in here other than liquor. You obviously don't expect me to drive drunk, do you?" _

" _ Oh look at you! Big boy makin' big decisions. Mr. "Good guy!" Ugh. So lame." I rolled my eyes as I took another sip. _

_ What's the point of taking me to party, if you're not getting shit faced with me? _

_ "Hey." He narrowed his eyes at me, "You know what else is really lame? Dying." _

_ I rolled my eyes in response. I turned around and leaned against the door frame that lead into the dance floor. Luke joined me by just watching everyone else enjoy themselves. _

_ I've been to a few parties in the past and from what I vaguely remembered I was one of those people that held up the wall. You'd never catch me busting a move while other people watched or with other people. _

_ I was more of a 'have a dance party by myself in my room with the door locked' kind of guy.  _

_ The vibe felt great though. It wasn’t like I had experienced before, it felt real here. It felt safe. Like I didn’t have to worry about anything or people wouldn’t look at me twice if I were to try to pull something weird. Okay, I kind of want to dance now because everyone’s smiling and sweaty and the music is annoyingly catchy. I looked over towards Luke and someone had already beat me to the punch. _

_ “That’s so funny, I love this song too!” She was short and pale and her eyes were as dark as her heels. Kinda wish she was talking to me instead. _

_ The smile on his face got really big, “Really? Do you love it so much that it makes you wanna dance?” _

_ She smiled, kissed him on the cheek and took his hand leading him away from me. He looked back and said, “I’ll be back!” while giving me a thumbs up.  _

_ Damn it. _

_ I am now a lone wolf, halfway hoping someone will ask for a dance and halfway hoping no one notices I’m here. I nod along to the beat while stepping forward. Since Luke left to get grinded on, I might as well check this place out. I walked around the pit of dancing bodies catching a sight of Luke with a flower crown on his head. The girl who lead him out there was dancing behind him, having the time of her life. I had the urge to go out there and join them. But I felt like that’d be weird, she clearly only wanted him. _

_ I smiled to myself and kept wandering. I was being cautious of people’s feet and the way they were holding their drinks. One slight bump of the shoulder and either one of us would end up going home smelling an open liquor cabinet.  _

_ My wandering lead me to these wide, glass double doors which were open. Leading you right into the backyard. Remember I had mentioned beer pong? Yeah, this is where it was going down.  _

_ “Alright!” a dark skinned dude with really colorful dreads shouted, “My money’s on the short one!”  _

_ Immediately people started putting bills down on the table, someone even bravely enough put down a hundred dollar bill. At each ends on the table were the players and their, I guess you can say, “fans”. On the left side was the short guy. Shirtless, held mardi gras beads around his neck and seemed way too drunk as it was to be playing along. On the right side, next to the guy with dreads, was a girl. She was almost as tall as me and her belly button piercing dangled past the button on her shorts. The glow sticks around her wrists were blue.  _

_ Dude with colorful dreads started talking, “Did everybody place their bet? Mine’s still on the short dude!” he laughed. _

_ “Mark’s drunk enough as it is! He won’t make it.”  _

_ “Yes the fuck I will!” Mark slurred, “I’m the deer dong champ!” _

_ The girl rolled her eyes, “ That’s BEER PONG, you idiot. Now put your money where your mouth is.”  _

_ The game lasted a good five minutes before Mark passed out. As Mark was being hauled off somewhere, the girl leaned against the table, counting the bills in her hand with a victorious smirk on her face.  _

_ I should go to parties more often. _

_ Walking around the backyard where some people danced, some talked amongst others in hushed tones and others continuing rounds of beer pong, I felt acceptable. It felt right to be around here, be around these people. I didn’t really know any of them and that felt okay. I didn’t need to know their names or their history. I’m just a mellow dude who crashed a party with his best friend. His best friend who's probably having a lot more fun than he thought he would. There is no need to make history here. The stars were out, barely any clouds in the sky. It felt acceptable. _

_ Something crunched under my feet while I was still looking up and for a second I thought I stepped on someone’s foot. Thank god it was just a dorito and not someone’s toe.  _

_ I picked my foot up to dust off the cheese powder, noticing one shoelace was longer than the other. If I don’t fix it now, it’s gonna get worse and I’ll trip and be embarrassed for the rest of my life. I’m doing a pretty good job not being too noticeable around here, I don’t want to fuck that up. I waddled over to the closest table, put my lemonade down then bent down to re-tie my shoe.  _

_ Something in the back of my head told me someone was looking at my ass but I just pushed that aside. Everyone was too busy doing their own thing. No one was paying me any attention.  _

_ When I finally stood up, I straightened my shirt out and went to grab my drink. But a random hand, out of nowhere, stopped me. A hand that was ten times larger than mine. My eyes traveled up the tan, muscular arm that was blocking my way. _

_ "Oh uh, sorry mate, but this is my drink." He said. _

_ "No I--I literally just put it down and went to pick it back up." _

_ There was another lemonade bottle just a few inches from mine, "That one's probably yours." _

_ He turned and picked up the bottle, eyeing how much was left in it. His jaw flexed and he raised an eyebrow. It took him a few seconds before humming, "Are you sure?" _

_ I let out a breathy laugh, "I'm pretty sure." _

_ He looked at me suspiciously before taking a sip. Tilting his head back slightly as he swallowed. A tiny burp slipped out when he removed the bottle from his lips. _

_ It made me smile for some reason. _

_ "Oh yeah, this is mine." He mumbled. I raised an eyebrow. _

_ "Sorry..." He trailed off. _

_ "Michael," I held out my hand, "And it's no big deal." _

_ He shook it while eyeing me, "Michael." He was saying my name as if he was trying it on a pair of pants. Seeing how it sounded coming out of his mouth. Like the name sounded familiar to him. It’s a very common name so why wouldn’t it be? _

_ "Kinda like Michael Myers. Huh. It suits you." He pointed to himself, "My name's Ashton. I prefer to be called Fletcher though." _

_ I furrowed my eyebrows, "How the hell do you get Fletcher out of Ashton?" _

_ He shrugged, "It's my middle name. I think it's cooler, in my opinion." _

_ "Oh okay. Uh Fletcher." _

_ He gestured and smiled at me, "There you go!" _

_ The dimples in his cheeks is what made me smile back. _

_ When he took another sip, the pink glow stick around his wrist slipped down his forearm while my eyes traveled up to his flexed bicep and I stared a little bit longer than I should have. _

_ "Are you a natural lilac?" He giggled. _

_ I shook my head, realizing that he was talking to me, "What?" _

_ "I've never seen someone with lilac hair before. I guess I should have expected it though. You freshmen are kinda weird." _

_ For a moment, I had to think about whether or not I should be offended by that. I had to think about why this guy was talking to me in the first place. But a bigger question popped up in mind. _

_ I asked, "How’d you know I'm a freshman?" _

_ "Your glow sticks, bro." He laughed, "Green is freshmen, Pink is sophomore, Orange is Junior and Blue is senior." _

_ I looked down at the neon green and scoffed, thinking it was pretty funny coincidence. Luke and I literally just picked green cause no one else picked it. The girl who won that round of beer pong, her glow sticks. She was a senior. Figuring by Ash--I mean Fletcher's wrist, he was a sophomore. He looked way older though. With his height and muscular physique he could easily pass for twenty-two. _

_ "I didn't even know freshmen went to these kind of parties." _

_ "You were a freshman last year." I mocked.  _

_ He ran his long fingers through his hair, "Yes, but I never look back darling. It distracts me from the now." _

_ I quickly caught on to his movie reference and chuckled. Really, why is this guy talking to me? _

_ "Did Greg invite you or did you crash?" He eyed again. _

_ I had no idea who Greg was but I'm assuming he's the same guy who invited Luke. But I didn't wanna say that cause that'd be weird if I didn't know who he was, so I said "Uh no, his brother invited me. Along with my friend, Luke." _

_ Fletcher nodded, "His brother..." _

_ "Y-Yeah! He's a great guy." I nervously laughed. _

_ "Hm. I didn't know Greg had a brother. Last time I checked he had a sister..." _

_ Oh shit. _

_ I rubbed the back of my neck, "Well y-you know. It's kinda hard to tell at times, right?" I really hope he changes the subject within the next response. Or just flat out walks away from me.  _

_ " I mean, they are gender-fluid so..I guess you're right." Fletcher shrugged it off and finished off the rest of his drink. _

_ Gender-fluid? Wow, that strangely worked out for me. Tonight so far, has just been full of coincidences. I hope I don’t wake up soon and realise this was all some weird dream.  _

_ Fletcher went to throw away his bottle in the garbage bin and made his way back to me. He stood a bit closer this time. _

_ "Who's this friend of yours?" He asked me. _

_ "Luke? He got pulled out onto the dance floor." I explained. Fletcher looked towards the doors, " Is he hot?" _

_ I scrunched up my face, "I don't know." _

_ I never looked or thought about Luke in that way. I honestly didn't know. Even if I was attracted to him nothing would ever happen because Luke doesn't "swing" that way, if you know what I mean. _

_ “How do you not know?”  _

_ “Because he’s my friend and that’s weird?”  _

_ “Hey chill out, Lilac. Just making conversation.”  _

_ I raised my eyebrow, “ Well what about you?” _

_ He looked at me, “What about me?” _

_ “You here with anybody? Or Did you just crash?” _

_ He nodded. His golden hair bounced with each nod, looking very shiny in the moonlight. Ugh, what the hell am I saying? I sound like a Nicholas Sparks novel. “Greg. He’s my roommate. He’s notorious for throwin’ these type of parties. Always inviting randoms; he wants any and everybody to have a good time.”  _

_ “Is he hot?” I smirked, playing off of his words. He seems very playful.  _

_ Fletcher leaned forward and laughed, “To tell you the truth, yeah he is.” The dimples in his cheeks made me feel like I was leaving a good impression. “But he’s not really my type.” _

_ I finished off my bottle of liquor, tilting my head back, “Yeah?” _

_ Fletcher’s gaze stayed on me for what seemed like an eternity. His eyes are a deeper shade of green than mine, “Yeah. Not my type.” _

~¤~

_ “Did you have fun?” _

_ Luke leaned his body against mine while his arm felt heavy across my shoulder, “Mikey you should've seen me! Akira said I was the best dancer she’s ever danced with!” _

_ I guessed he only danced and been with her the whole night, her perfume was overwhelming his jacket. The lipstick stain across his cheek and his neck were perfect giveaways. I’m glad he had a good time. I shook my head out of fondness, “Did you at least get her number, doofus?” _

_ “Oh absolutely! I told her I’d call her as soon as I got home…” he walked over to the driver’s side and unlocked the doors. After the clicking of our seatbelts subsided, he asked, “Did you have a good time?” _

_ “Yeah, it was cool.” _

_ Luke half-smiled, “You know I’m surprised you’re not shit faced. I thought I would have to drag you out of there.” _

_ I shook my head, “Nah, nah. Maybe next time.” _

_ Luke grinned at me then continued paying attention to the road. I stared down at the number messily scribbled in my palm. Underneath where the words ‘Call Me, Lilac’. I’m guessing that’s my new nickname. Hmm.  _

_ Fletcher and Lilac. _

_ Lilac and Fletcher.  _

_...I don’t like it.  _

 


End file.
